Download A Review of Melanie`s Marvelous Measles

Book Review: Tetyana Obukhanych, PhD immunologist.
Melanie’s Marvelous Measles by Stephanie Messenger’s (children’s book)
A children’s book presenting an unconventional view of a childhood disease has, in a
short time after its publication, stirred the wrath of the faceless medical establishment.
Provaccine public opinion has branded the book as scientifically flawed and dangerous.
The information in the book has not been given a fair review by any expert familiar with
immunologic theory and research, devoid of mind-clouding emotionality.
The purpose of this review is to provide the analysis of the book’s main suggestions and
to establish whether they have any basis on scientific grounds.
Melanie’s Marvelous Measles portrays a hypothetical children’s book scenario
comprised of the following:
 two vaccinated school-age children get measles;
 the experience of measles in these children mirrors the quality of their daily
nutrition prior to disease;
 an unvaccinated child, whose family knows the value of proper nutrition and
shuns vaccination due to adverse effects experienced by an older sibling, does not
develop any measles symptoms despite visiting her friend during illness;
 vegetable sources of vitamin A are suggested to prevent or speed up the recovery
from measles;
 having measles in childhood is suggested to be beneficial due building the
immunity from disease.
Perhaps for some, the most unbelievable feature of the story would be the occurrence of
measles in vaccinated children.
 Can vaccinated individuals get measles?
Yes, vaccinated individuals can get measles in real life, and they do.
This fact might be surprising to those unfamiliar with immunologic research in animals
and epidemiologic data on measles and other infectious disease outbreaks.
Numerous outbreaks of infectious diseases, measles (1-3) and other (4-7), have been
documented in communities with high vaccination coverage and involving anywhere
from 20% to 80% of fully vaccinated individuals.
The reason for such a significant contribution of fully vaccinated individuals to outbreaks
is not random vaccine failures, but a predicted limited durability of protection conferred
by any vaccine against the corresponding disease.
Research in animals had demonstrated that injection of inactivated virus (and most
vaccines are made of attenuated or inactivated viruses) was capable of achieving only
short duration of protection, during which the serum taken from such animals had virusneutralizing properties.
In contrast, inoculation of research animals with full-potency wild virus (such as those
encountered naturally) led to long-lived protective capacity of the serum measured by
virus neutralization test (8).
These findings suggest that a vaccinated person can, upon exposure, succumb to measles
(or any other viral disease deemed to be vaccine-preventable) after the vaccine’s shortlasting protective effect wanes.
This is in contrast to permanent immunity developed after exposure to natural virus. This
point is well illustrated and discussed in Melanie’s Marvelous Measles.
This brings up the next question.
 If vaccination against measles gives only short-lasting protection, and previously
vaccinated children might get measles anyway (as correctly depicted in the book),
might vitamin A have any role in modulating the experience of measles?
Vitamin A (retinoids) is a necessary partner of a crucial natural anti-viral messenger
called interferon (9). Interferon is produced by cells of the innate immune system called
macrophages within hours of them detecting a virus in the body (10).
One of the known interferon’s anti-viral functions is to provide a molecular signal to
other cells that makes them become resistant to viral entry.
However, the message of interferon gets through to those cells, including neurons, only in
presence of vitamin A.
The crucial role of interferon-secreting macrophages in modulating the course of a viral
infection is exemplified in a research experiment, in which mice were depleted of
macrophages and infected with a vesicular stomatitis virus, which normally poses no
danger of disease in humans or animals. Yet, mice depleted of macrophages succumbed
to fatal neuro-invasion by this virus (11).
This experiment allows us to infer that if the action of interferon is so important in
making a difference between subclinical versus deadly outcome of a viral infection, then
vitamin A deficiency at the time of exposure to the virus would make interferon action
suboptimal and would negatively affect the course of any viral infection in which
interferon is normally involved, measles or some other (12).
This would also suggest that attempting to correct any pre-existing vitamin A deficiency
only after the onset of disease symptoms (two or three weeks after exposure) is not likely
to ensure a mild or subclinical course of the disease, since the action of interferon is
required within hours of viral exposure.
Nevertheless, analysis of placebo-controlled clinical trials of vitamin A administration in
severe measles revealed that a high dose of vitamin A taken on two consecutive days
after the measles diagnosis was still beneficial by reducing croup, overall mortality, and
pneumonia-specific mortality following measles(13).
A quote from Melanie’s Marvelous Measles,
“I read that if your body has plenty of vitamin A you won’t get measles, and if you have
measles, eating fruit and vegetables high in vitamin A are helpful for healing,”
is therefore in line with scientific knowledge.
It should be noted, however, that fruit and vegetables do not contain vitamin A per se
(retinoids), but rather beta-carotene, which can be converted to real vitamin A by the
liver. It is retinoids, not beta-carotene, that play a direct role in the above-described antiviral protection in partnership with interferon.
Therefore, the sources of real vitamin A, such as milk/butter from grass-fed cows (i.e.,
cows on pasture, not in feedlot) or high quality cod liver oil, might be necessary in daily
nutrition in addition to fruit and vegetables for the purposes of building up vitamin A
reserves.
 Finally, is there any important long-term benefit of having measles in childhood?
Yes, there is.
The most significant benefit is for girls (mothers-to-be), who by having measles in their
own childhood and acquiring permanent immunity from the disease themselves, would
also furnish this immunity to their offspring due to passive immunity transfer via the
placenta and breastfeeding.
The ability of passive immunity transfer to their babies would be absent in those mothers
who, having been born after the childhood measles vaccination campaign had been
introduced, have not had a chance to experience measles themselves (14,15).
The reason why infants are so vulnerable to measles without maternal immuno-protection
is that their immune system is not capable of producing high levels of interferon (16).
Paradoxically, infants born decades after mass vaccination has been on the way in their
country have a much higher chance of contracting measles during sporadic (imported)
outbreaks of a nearly eliminated disease, compared to infants born in the pre-vaccination
era when the incidence of childhood measles was consistently high and affecting older
age groups, ages one to fifteen (17). This is because, despite early exposure to measles,
those infants were under the shield of robust maternal immuno-protection for the first
year of life even when not breastfed, and breastfeeding would prolong their protection.
Such natural maternal protection is now systematically eliminated over the span of
generations in many countries around the world. This is done by vaccinating healthy
children who could have withstood measles without complications, and then their own
future babies would not have to risk their lives in sporadic outbreaks of the disease.
Melanie’s Marvelous Measles concludes that “for most children it is a good thing to get
measles, many wise people believe measles make the body stronger and more mature for
the future.”
It is not difficult to see why this makes sense, once we understand the irreplaceability of
naturally acquired immunity in preventing measles in (very young) infants of the next
generation, in whom it would surely be deadly.
Indeed, according to the representatives of the medical establishment and public health,
measles can be a deadly disease. This statement is entirely correct and factual.
In addition to making it more prevalent in (young) infants via mass vaccination of the
generation of their mothers, there are in fact a couple of other measures (factors – since
one isn’t a measure) that might increase the risk of disease complications from measles
infection in older children and adults. These measures include:
a) neglecting to screen for and promptly correct any sub-clinical vitamin
A (retinoid) deficiencies in the population;
b) using anti-fever medications to suppress disease symptoms, which are
known to increase secondary complications from measles in particular
(18) as well as to exacerbate any existing bacterial infection (19).
Because of the above, a clear and loud statement to the frightened public that measles can
be deadly could very well be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
In summary, Melanie’s Marvelous Measles, although understandably oversimplified and
exaggerated to suit a child’s level of understanding, provides a valid representation of
vaccination reality.
For those parents who have already chosen a holistic approach to health, the book can
serve as a way of introducing the concepts of immunity and vaccination to their young
children.
If, in addition, the book succeeds to alert other unsuspecting parents to the fact that
vaccination does not guarantee protection from disease and inspires them to pay more
attention to the nutrition required for optimal function of the immune system, that would
indeed be marvelous.
About the Reviewer: Tetyana Obukhanych, PhD had pursued her graduate education
and research training in the field of Immunology in leading biomedical institutions in the
US, including The Rockefeller University, Harvard Medical School, and Stanford
University. She is the author of e-book Vaccine Illusion, which informs parents and
health care professionals about immunologic impact of vaccination. Her views are based
on her independent and impartial analysis of immunologic theory and facts. She has no
ties to vaccine industry or professional societies with vested interests in promoting
vaccination.
Disclaimer: Scientific information provided in this review is for education purposes only
and is not intended as medical advice.
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